A manufacturing company in Ghana saw its board members proliferate their salaries and monthly allowances by 400% without any approval

15 May 2019: The board of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company (GCMC) is under scrutiny after they illegitimately increased their monthly salaries and sitting allowances by a whooping 400 percent.

According to an audit report prepared by the Auditor General’s Department, the new board that presided over in 2016-2017, skyrocketed their monthly expenses and salaries.

The allowance for the board chair which initially stood at $125.95 (GH?650) soared to $581.32 (GH?3000) while that of members which was $112.39 (GH?580) has ballooned to $387.55 (GH?2000).

The report said, “Our review of the first (1st) minutes of the Board of Directors meeting of the Company held on Thursday, September 21, 2017 disclosed that the Board increased their monthly fee, and sitting allowances by themselves instead of seeking approval from members at a general meeting,” adding that, “The monthly fee was increased from $125.95 (GHC650) for Chairman and $112.39 (GH?580) for members to $581.32 (GH?3,000) and $387.55 (GH?2,000), respectively. The sitting allowance was also increased from $113.64 (GHC600) for Chairman and $94.70 (GH?500) for members to $189.39 (GH?1000) for both chairman and his members.”

The report further said the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Frances Essiam randomly snowballed the salary of staff without recourse to procedure.

“The CEO of the Company, arbitrarily increased the salary and wages of the workers by 30% to 50%. She again increased the number of workers from 36 to 59 without approval from the governing board, or reference to any approved salary structure and scheme of service.”

This, according to the report resulted in a massive increase of the Wage bill, from $8,434.05 (GH?44,531.81) in June 2017 to $21,288.78 (GH?112,404.78) as at December 2017.